'Educating Rita' Raises Serious Issues
'Educating Rita' was voted best comedy of the year when performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1980 and by 1983 it had risen to be the fourth most popular play on the British stage. Russell uses humour as a tool to engage and entertain his audience whilst at the same time dealing with serious topics. Without the humour, the play would be less accessible and would probably have reached a much more limited and elitist audience.
The play is naturalistic with a fixed and simple staging, which firmly reflects the real world. The entire play is set in one study room in a red brick university. The room is Frank's environment - cluttered with books representing both the world of
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(Act one, scene one)
Both characters are dissatisfied with their lives and each has a sense of being incomplete in different ways. Rita feels that she needs to
"find herself" before she has a baby. She is obviously bright and quick-witted but missed out on education because studying was "just for whimps"(Act one, scene 2) among her classmates. Her schooling in a poor area of Liverpool was not conducive to learning as taking school seriously resulted in becoming "different from me mates and that's not allowed" (Act one, scene two) Here Russell makes a telling point about the disadvantages of attending an inner-city school using characteristic Liverpudlian wit. Rita is not blemished by her obvious disadvantages and her usage of the word "normal" to describe her school is comedic. Here, Russell's use of humour becomes more pronounced as the two characters begin to feed off each other. Rita's rather coarse and vulgar humour is countered by Frank's dry wit and the two contrasting styles work well together.
By Rita's standards Frank would seem to have it all, a fulfilling job in a cosy study surrounded by books and overlooking the University lawns. Yet, the academic life is stifling his creativity. He is unable to follow up his earlier success with writing poetry and sees his recent attempts as pathetic and lifeless rubbish. His escape is the whiskey bottle. When Rita bursts into his life she is both a 'breath of fresh air' and
of the play. I will also explore the role the common man plays in the
central to the play. I am going to look at only the first act of the
Educating Rita by Willy Russell explores the value of education, but also the wider education that takes place and how to use that education to your greatest benefit; not only during the school education but also the looking at the surrounding world. Rita, an uneducated lady, is unhappy with the limitations of her social class and feels that to escape the limitations she needs to get a properly recognised education. She therefore decides to do an Open University course in English literature. This she believes will greatly increase the horizons of her life and remove some of the limitations that she feels are imposed upon her. She wants to learn everything but soon discovers that even education has its limits. Frank, her tutor and lecturer,
indeed a person who has a lot to say and Frank listens and responds to
Throughout Topadhewin: The Gladys Cooks Story, Gladys talks about her residential school experience and how it changed her entire life. I previously knew a lot about the topic on the residential school system in Canada, and how it impacted many people. I realized that actually hearing someone telling their story on this issue makes it much more horrifying than the information found on the internet. From my understanding, this movie is to educate and acknowledge the survivors of residential schools. Many people make many negative stereotypes towards Indigenous peoples which is not always true. To understand Indigenous peoples of Canada you must understand the horrifying events that the government put them through and their reasons for doing it.
Many elders of color will share their stories with you if given the opportunity. Stories on how the United States changed their lives in both a positive and negative way. Stories describing their upbringing, family, traditions, culture and religious beliefs. I was lucky enough to interview Rita, an elder of color. From her stories, you are able to see how she has battled with life from all different angles.
As previous mentioned, The physical setting is placed in a carpet factory where the slab room, where the colours are ground and dished, is in the basement, the designer department one floor up, and so on till the hierarchy reaches the top floor where Mr Barton resides. However, the play
shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what
is not quite good enough. Rita wants to be of a higher status than her
night to establish the atmosphere. The immoral scenes of the play seem to take place at
Theme – the reason behind why the playwright wrote the play. “Patterns of life”, a slice of reality.
Educating Rita tells a story of a 26-year-old married hairdresser, Rita, who decided to get education by taking a course in English literature from the Open University. Through the development of the relationship between Rita and her alcoholic and cynical tutor, Frank, this story brings up many concepts in adult development and education. After watching the movie, I have a further understanding of the concepts of changes, motivation to learn, freedom, and stability.
have taken place in Rita’s life since we last saw her, in the play we
The Effect of Summer School on Rita in Educating Rita by Willy Russell 'Of course; you don't do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y?' When Frank explains to Rita that after summer school they will study William Blake, Rita says that she has already studied Blake and implies in such a way that she almost disgraces Frank. Before summer school Rita has only been taught Frank and has only learnt his ideas, when she gains her own confidence she then challenges Frank on his views to do with poetry by telling him about William Blake. This confidence reflects the effect which summer school ultimately had upon Rita. Willy Russell was born in Whiston, near Liverpool, England, in 1947.
People may not be aware, but any one of their peers, friends, or neighbors may be victims of child abuse. Every day, someone experiences physical, emotional, neglect, and/or sexual abuse. Abuse can lead to death or injury for the rest of a victim's life, from either the perpetrator or themselves. In order to prevent child abuse society must: recognize the types of abuse, understand common causes of abuse, know the characteristics of abusers, and realize the effects abuse has, not just on the child, but on families and communities across the world.